Star Jones Reynolds Gone – Barbara Walters 'Betrayed'

As PEOPLE.com reported Tuesday night, Star Jones Reynolds did not return to work on The View Wednesday after being asked by ABC to stay away.

Barbara Walters, the show's creator, told PEOPLE on Tuesday that she felt "betrayed" by Reynolds's comments to the magazine. "My contract was not renewed for the tenth season," Reynolds told PEOPLE. "I feel like I was fired."

Reynolds added that she got the news her contract wouldn't be renewed just days before reports surfaced that Rosie O'Donnell – one of her most vocal critics – would be joining The View in the fall.

On Wednesday's episode of The View, Walters elaborated on the controversy: "We didn’t expect her to make this statement yesterday. She gave us no warning."

Walters then went on to explain that Reynolds had known "for months" that she would not be returning in the fall, and that the network had given her time to exit the show with "dignity."

Walters's on-air statement echoed what she told PEOPLE Tuesday: "Bill Geddie (The View's coexecutive producer) and I said to her, 'Handle this any way you want. You can say anything about a new job, you can say anything about a new road. Whatever you say, we'll back you up. We will never say that your contract was not renewed.'"

On Wednesday's program, Walters went on to say, "It is becoming uncomfortable for us to pretend that everything is the same at this table. And therefore, regrettably, Star will no longer be on this program."

As for where she'll go next, Jones Reynolds said Tuesday, during her final appearance on The View, "I'm not sure what the future holds, but I'm absolutely sure who holds the future."